Mark your calendar. The much-anticipated Ikea store under construction in Tampa will open at 9 a.m. May 6, a bit earlier than expected, the company said this morning.

The store, a 353,000-square-foot complex near Ybor City, will be the largest Ikea in Florida.

Known for selling an inexpensive array of contemporary furniture, Ikea already has a strong following in the region. The Swedish retailer boasted 100,000 Tampa Bay area households on its catalog mailing list when it decided to build a store here. And many from the area have been flocking to Ikea's Orlando location, which opened a year ago. The company also has a third Florida location in Sunrise.

"We are thrilled at the excellent construction progress made in the summer and fall, and believe the remaining construction milestones and interior buildup process will be complete by May," Monica Varela, the Tampa store manager, said in a statement. "Now our primary goal is hiring and training the 400 local hires who will be joining the Ikea co-worker family before we open."

For information about working at Ikea, go to www.ikea-usa.com.